James t



(No Modl.)

J. T., SARGENT.

WASHBOARD.

Patented Mar. 2, 189 7.

IIHIIENTOR, W11) m 1n: norm: TO-LI'IMQ, vusnmnrou, u. 04

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES T. SARGENT, OE CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN WASHBOARD COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

WASHBOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent NO. 578,167, dated March 2, 1897.

Application filed December 28, 1895. Serial No. 573,668. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES T. SARGENT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented ordiscovered certain new and useful Improvements in Washboards, of which improvements the following is a specification.

The invention described herein relates to certain improvements in washboards whereby provision is made for the protection of the soap as well as the clothes of the operator and at the same time afford a safe and eflicient support for the soap not only when the washboard is in an inclined or operative position, but also when raised, as is frequently done in washing, to or slightly beyond a vertical or upright position.

In general terms the invention consists in the construction and combination substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure l is a perspective view of a portion of a washboard having my improvement applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the same, the place of section being indicated by the line II II, Fig. 1, showing the protector in operative posit-ion by full lines and in folded position by dotted lines.

The washboard consists of the side bars 1, head-piece 2, cross-bar 3, back or supporting board at, rubbing-face 5, and brand-board (3. As shown in Fig. 2, the upper ends of the back board and rubbing-face are secured to and supported by the cross-bar. The brandboard is secured to the back edges of the head-piece and side bars and projects a short distance below the cross-bar, which is tenoned in the side bars so that its median line or axis will coincide or approximately coincide with a plane passing throughthe axes of the side bars, so that as the cross-bar is made of a less width than the side bars a slot or opening will be formed between the cross-bar and brand-board for the drainage of water from the soap.

The side and cross bars of the washboards are made of certain standard dimensions, as, for example, the side bars are about an inch and five-eighths and the cross-bars about three-quarters of an inch in width. In the manufacture of single-face washboards it is essential, in the first place, that the rubbingface and side bars be arranged together in such relation to each other that port-ions of the side bars project beyond the'rubbingface, so as to form rims along opposite edges of the face to prevent the water from flowing laterally off the face. In the second place it is essential to provide a soap-receptacle above the rubbing-face. In order to comply with these conditions without materially increasing the width of the side bars and cross-bar, the ends of the latter are secured to the side bars at about the median line thereof, and the brand-board is attached to the rear edges of the side bars. This construction provides an ample width of rim along the edges of the rubbing-face, but the soap-receptacle is very shallow, so that the soap is retained in place with diificulty even when the washboard is in its inclined or operative position and is certain to drop out when the washboard is shifted to or beyond a vertical position, and, further, when a cake of soap is placed in the cross-bar, whose front edge is flush with the rubbing-face, it is constantly subject to the sluicing of the water thrown up along the face of the board in washing. In-order to overcome these objectionable features in the present form of washboard, a protector 7 is pivotally mounted in the side bars, so as to be capable of being shifted and to project out beyond the plane of the rubbing-face sufficiently far to form an efficient soap-support and an efficient barrier, as against any upward movement of water thrown up in washing, beyond the upper end of the rubbingface or the cross-bar. The protector is adapted to be folded, when not in use, into the space between the head-piece and cross-bar.

The protector is provided at its inner corners with trunnions 8, which are mounted in holes formed in the side bars in such relation to the cross-bar that when the protector is turned down to operative position it will take a bearing in front of its pivotal axis upon the cross-bar and be supported thereby in position of use, as shown in the figures.

I claim herein as my invention- A washboard having in combination a frame consisting of side bars, head-piece and crossbar, a brand-board arranged at one side of a plane passing through the axes of the side bars, and a protector provided with pivotpins mounted in the side bars in such rela' tion to the crossbar and brand-board, that with the usual infolding capacity, it may also when unfolded or set in operative position, rest upon or be supported by the cross-bar,

and form a protector and in connection with 1 o the brand-board, a soap-box, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JAMES T. SARGENT. Vitnesses:

A. B. CALHOUN, J. B. SToWE. 

